Kayvon Thibodeaux deserved the game-sealing play to cap off one of the best showings of his young career.
Instead, he sunk to a bright spot in what became an otherwise nightmarish result for the Giants.
Leading 10-7, Thibodeaux sacked Jets quarterback Zach Wilson on fourth-and-10 with 1:26 left in the game.
The Jets turned it over on downs as a result, and a Giants victory appeared all but a formality.
But a missed field goal, an offensive three-and-out and two defensive collapses later, the Giants somehow managed to lose to the Jets 13-10 in overtime.
“You’ve just got to finish,” Thibodeaux said after the game. “The NFL is a game of finishing, and they were able to execute at the end of the game and get enough points to win. … It’s not over till the lady sings.”
Thibodeaux finished with three sacks (two of which came on what should have been the Giants’ game-sealing stop), three tackles for loss, three quarterback hits, a forced fumble and nine total tackles. It marked a single-game career-high in sacks and tied a career-high in tackles for loss.
His standout showing came just days after Thibodeaux became a hot topic around sports media, with WFAN hosts Sal Licata and Brandon Tierney lambasting last year’s fifth-overall pick and claiming he has “not made his impact felt” in the NFL yet.
Those comments were made to Giants’ legendary linebacker Carl Banks, who vehemently disagreed and was subsequently kicked off the show as a result.
“It’s a team sport,” Thibodeaux said. “It is devastating that we didn’t get the win, but it takes all of us. … We’ve just got to keep going.”
Thibodeaux did, however, notably jump offsides on the first play of the Jets’ miraculous game-tying drive, giving the Jets a free play.
Zach Wilson turned it into a 29-yard pass to Garrett Wilson, and the Jets declined the penalty.
But the penalty stopped the clock until it was announced and the ball was properly spotted, allowing the Jets to get to the new line of scrimmage with barely any time expiring.
Wilson then completed another 29-yard pass, this time to Allen Lazard, and was able to spike the ball with only one second remaining to set up Greg Zuerlein’s game-tying 35-yard field goal.
“We’ve just got to make plays,” Thibodeaux said about that drive. “I don’t think [Wilson] did anything crazy. For them it’s a routine play, for us it’s a routine play. It’s just about who executes it at a higher level.”